Alpine K's biggest nightmare

[mattp]

"A woman died Saturday when a tree that workers were cutting down fell the wrong way and landed on top of her trailer. Betty Sherrill, who was in her 80s, was in her bedroom in the front compartment of the fifth-wheel trailer when a 60-foot portion of the tree sliced through, striking her and leaving a crumpled mess of wood and fiberglass. ..."

 

 

 

Daily Olympian web page

[AlpineK]

icky

[Beck]

the workers weren't arborists, or tree service folks, just some friends of the manager of the trailer park...tragic.

[mattp]

A 110 foot tall fir is no joke. I've recently taken a bunch of small trees out of my backyard and I had a couple of them do thing's I didn't expect when they came down. I think the Daily Zip said that one of the "crew" WAS a man who works in the "tree cutting business" and even he apparently was taken by surprise. This just shows how maybe when I'm going to work my way up to something bigger I better hire Mr. K instead of taking a chance by doing it myself.

[AlpineK]

If I had a dime for every person who told me they used to do tree work I'd be rich. Who knows how much experience the guy had.

 

That being said there are all kinds of funky situations you can run into where unexpected things happen. On friday I cut down this hemlock where the roots had started to pancake and the tree was resting in a fir at a 45 degree angle. I figured the tree would fall over when I cut it out of its resting spot in the fir. Instead the whole stem swayed and shifted 10 feet to the right when I cut it free. I had to come down to the ground to fell the remaining 60' stem.

[catbirdseat]

Hire professionals.

 

The take home message is if you are felling a 100 foot tree, you should remove all people in all directions for more than 100 feet from the base of the tree. Duh.

[max]

The take home message is if you are felling a 100 foot tree, you should remove all people in all directions for more than 100 feet from the base of the tree. Duh.

 

uh, I think "the literature" says something about 2x the height... 2.5x? You know, dominoe type shit.

[Bug]

I took out an old tree for a friend once in Issaquah. It was in the middle of a thicket. I thought it would fall hard right but it fell soft right and into another tree. Two major chunks broke off and fell back toward me. I ran like a panicked idiot out the only escape route. When I was not quite far enough away, I tripped and fell. As I fell I looked back to see a eight inch diameter crusher coming my way. I hit and lunged sideways. The crusher slammed the spot I had just vacated. My friend and his wife were watching the whole thing. He laughed hysterically. She sat down and cried.

[catbirdseat]

Dude, save you other eight lives for climbing.

[lummox]

If I had a dime for every person who told me they used to do tree work I'd be rich.

low threshold for entry into the 'profession'. btw: i have done 'tree work'. cut and split firewood. i believe in natural gas now.

[Bug]

Dude, save you other eight lives for climbing.

I'm down to 4.

[AlpineK]

If I had a dime for every person who told me they used to do tree work I'd be rich.

low threshold for entry into the 'profession'. btw: i have done 'tree work'. cut and split firewood. i believe in natural gas now.

 

It's true that a lot of people think all you need is a pickup and a chainsaw; however there are professionals out there.

 

Here's a good place to look

[lummox]

It's true that a lot of people think all you need is a pickup and a chainsaw; however there are professionals out there.

 

Here's a good place to look

dont ya need to be missing a couple teeth too?

[AlpineK]

Missing teeth are only an asset to the boys you purchace bj's from.

[lummox]

Missing teeth are only an asset to the boys you purchace bj's from.

pretty weak comeback dude.

[AlpineK]

That's ok I've got more important fish to fry.

[Bronco]

Try cutting a mature (20"+) alder out of a hillside for some real excitement. I had one launch like it was spring loaded and touch down 25' downhill. Nearly got ma truck!

 

Lessons learned to date:

 

Have an escape route.

 

Have another escape route to use when the tree falls on your primary escape route.

 

Run fast and far.

 

Have another chainsaw available to finish cutting the tree down when the tree comes back and pinches your saw.

 

Don't use metal wedges to try to free your stuck saw.

 

Don't bring your young kids or dog when you are falling trees.

 

Use a couple of wedges to finish dropping the tree instead of just cutting all the way through.

 

Don't intentionally fall a tree into the road, a car will magically appear (everytime).

 

If cutting in an urban setting, ignore hippies who oppose cutting trees. Arguing with them wastes daylight.

 

Wear a hard hat because there is stuff in the tree (and other trees close by) that will fall out when it starts moving around. Eye and ear protection are good. Shorts and sandles are bad.

 

Park your truck farther away than necesary.

 

Drunk people are not much help falling trees.

 

Even though a 44" bar is cool, it isn't really necesary.

 

If you aren't sure, hire a pro or rent a big crane.

 

I've been an amateur tree cutter for several years now mostly cutting in the woods but, I've done some "close proximity" tree removal that should have been done by a pro, but cheap friends and family talk me into it. It's a lot of fun, but if there is a way you don't want the tree to fall, it's generally going to go that way. I will climb up 3/4 of the way up and tie a long rope to the tree with the other end to the truck so I can pull it away from whatever it is I don't want crushed. People are not optional, they must always be far away from the trees, even inside the house.

[catbirdseat]

My dad and I once cut down a 50 ft Canary Island Pine of 16" diameter that was growing within 3' of his house. We wanted to make absolutely sure it would fall towards the street and not towards the house, so we tied a really long rope (75ft) about half-way up the tree and took it to a truck on the other side of a cul-de-sac. We tensioned up the line really well and then cut. The tree went exactly the direction we wanted and didn't hit anything.